Registered Nurse - Specialty Hospital Job Bethlehem area,Pennsylvania USA,Nursing

Registered Nurse

The Good Shepherd Specialty Hospital has been helping patients recover from complex medical conditions and injuries since 2000. The first long-term acute-care hospital (LTACH) in the region, we help patients who are too medically fragile to transfer to a skilled nursing facility, acute rehabilitation hospital or their home after a hospital stay. In addition to general rehabilitation, our team is renowned for their expertise in ventilator weaning and respiratory care.

Job Summary

Promotes and restores patients' health by completing the nursing process; collaborating with physicians and multidisciplinary team members; providing physical and psychological support to patients, friends, and families; supervising assigned team members.

Essential Functions

Uses nursing process as a framework to deliver care:
- By assessing patient condition on admission and at regular intervals during assigned shift
  - Coordinating, prioritizing and integrating patient information from all aspects of clinical care
  - Delegating basic patient care needs to assistive personnel
  - Setting goals to organize assignment
  - Collaborating with patients and their families on the patient's desired goals
  - Acting on physician's orders in a timely manner
  - Developing independent nursing interventions appropriate to the patient's response to care
  - Documenting interventions and their resultant responses and auditing aggregate performance in order to improve systems that support patient care.
Establishes a compassionate environment
- By providing emotional, psychological, and spiritual support to patients, friends, and families.
Promotes patient's independence
- Teaching patient, friends, and family to understand condition, medications, safety, and self-care skills
  - Answering questions.
Assures quality of care
- By adhering to therapeutic standards
  - Measuring health outcomes against patient care goals and standards
  - Making or recommending necessary adjustments
  - Following hospital and nursing division's philosophies and standards of care set by State Nurse Practice Act, and other governing agencies.
Maintains safe and clean working environment
- By complying with procedures, rules, and regulations for safety and infection control
  - Keeping patient rooms in a neat and orderly fashion, cleaning assigned equipment or areas according to procedure and adhering to medication administration and storage procedures, and controlled substance regulations.
Respects patients and the organization
- By recognizing patient rights, patient privacy
  - Keeping information confidential and responding to requests using tact and diplomacy.
Ensures operation of equipment
- By completing preventive maintenance requirements
  - Following manufacturer's instructions
  - Troubleshooting malfunctions
  - Processing requisitions for repair
  - Maintaining equipment inventories
  - Evaluating new equipment and techniques.
Maintains professional and technical knowledge
- By attending educational workshops
  - Reviewing professional publications
  - Establishing personal networks
  - Participating in professional societies.
- Maintaining current BLS and ACLS affirmations, attending required annual in-services, attending staff meetings regularly, documenting professional development on associate education record, conducts annual learning session in collaboration with the patient care specialist, identifies learning needs and seeks professional improvement.
Demonstrates financial accountability
- Checking stock to determine inventory level
  - Anticipating needed supplies
  - Placing and expediting orders for supplies
  - Verifying receipt of supplies
  - Using equipment and supplies as needed to accomplish job results.
Contributes to organizational team effort
- By communicating information
  - Responding to requests
  - Building rapport
  - Participating in team problem-solving methods
  - Participating in at least one performance improvement team or project, completing assignments by specified deadline, assists in evaluating improvements and aggregate performance according to standards.
Maintains a cooperative relationship among health care teams
- By accomplishing related results as needed, following through on delegated tasks, responding to co-workers requests for assistance, demonstrating behaviors as…